Massive Attack Posted March 3, 2005 Share Posted March 3, 2005 I was wondering if someone could make digital copies of some of Canada's classic games and then have them hosted on a Bit Torrent site. I recently bought a computer with a dvd-burner and would like to create a library of Canada's matches on dvd. I'm starting with this years WYC Qualifying matches but I was wondering if I could get some old games (especially the 86' WC games). Any help is greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue and White Army Posted March 3, 2005 Share Posted March 3, 2005 I second this. We had actually talked about doing this a few months ago, but nothing came of it. Someone has to get off their arse and start making computer video files of old matches (like VHS rips, I assume), or it'll never happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Varsity Tyler Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 Well, my external DVD writer has a capture device. If somebody has any of these games on tape then I can start the ripping and torrent hosting process. I just started ripping some of my old VHS to DVD - so all I have so far is Libya and Belize II in this format. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
An Observer Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 I dont mind seeding for those that have the matches...i have a few on tape but they are recent so probably everyone has those.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanadasBest Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 I hear Paddy has a rather sizeable collection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Massive Attack Posted April 14, 2005 Author Share Posted April 14, 2005 Redhat was kind enough to send me the Canada-Costa Rica game from the 2003 Gold Cup on DVD. If people are interested, I can make this game into a torrent once the Portugal downloading dies off. The game is historically significant, as it marks the great high that came before the great low of losing to Cuba just a few days later. Its Holger's second last match in charge if I'm not mistaken. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Hombre Posted April 14, 2005 Share Posted April 14, 2005 That would be awesome. I'd be interested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dave Posted April 16, 2005 Share Posted April 16, 2005 This is a fantastic idea! I used to have a VHS collection of some old games going back to 1994 WCQ, but I left them at my parents' house when I moved out. I have no idea whether they are still around (might have been taped over with my Mom's soap operas) but if I can locate them I have the hardware and software to convert VHS to DivX in one step. I should be up to my Mom's place within a couple of weeks and I'll check. Who else has old games on DVD or VHS? I've even lost some recent games, so I'd be grateful for any torrents that were posted. Also, if anyone out there has old VHS games but hasn't done much conversion to digital, I'd be happy to do the conversion to DivX so it can be seeded. I have a VHS stabilizer to get rid of the noise on VHS tapes, a capture card, a fast processor, and some experience going from VHS to DivX in one step (using Dr. DivX capture feature). I'd then burn the DivX files onto a DVD and mail then back along with the original VHS tape. (I likely won't be able to start torrents myself due to ISP issues, but I can do everything else, and someone else can then seed it). If anyone takes me up on this offer, are you willing to risk mailing me the original VHS tape instead of a copy? It would mean a higher quality digital version. I promise to return the original VHS tape in a bubble wrapped envelope for protection, along with a DivX version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheeta Posted April 16, 2005 Share Posted April 16, 2005 With you on that one. Most of my bulkier but precious possetions got left at my Mum's a long, long, time ago. A lot of it became garage sale victoms or was put to the curb. Heading out there this afternoon and will put a bug in her ear. With a little luck I can maybe scrape up some stuff from Canada's '86 WCQ. Don't know if the tapes will be any good after 15 years in a box in a basement, though. Still, if I put on the charm maybe she'll have a look-see and come up with something. Maybe not. But it's worth a try and would be happy to donate to the cause. Stay tuned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dave Posted April 16, 2005 Share Posted April 16, 2005 Hey Cheeta! WC86 stuff would be amazing. Anything prior to 2000 GC is getting hard to find, in fact. If you find something that old, I highly recommend running it thru a video stabilizer before trying to record it digitally. Over time VHS is notorious for picking up noise and degrading in quality. I recently rescued a bunch of old VHS family home movies from the early 80s. Before I bought a VHS stabilizer they were almost unwatchable in digital, but after running through the stabilizer the DivX end product was actually slightly BETTER quality than the VHS original, due to correction of some colour fading, tracking problems etc. I find that any vhs to digital transfer is better once stabilized. You can pick up a decent stabilizer for around $200 or so online. Alternatively, I'd be happy to convert any VHS to divX. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthew Posted April 16, 2005 Share Posted April 16, 2005 quote:Originally posted by Dave If you find something that old, I highly recommend running it thru a video stabilizer before trying to record it digitally. Over time VHS is notorious for picking up noise and degrading in quality. How much noise reduction are we talking? I have a few old games and one was quite fuzzy when it was new. Will it actually make a copy better than the original? cheers, matthew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dave Posted April 16, 2005 Share Posted April 16, 2005 It's hard to quantify really, so much of it is subjective. My own observation with some old tapes where the picture tended to jump and "flutter" a bit, was that the picture looked more stable, more "solid" after running it through the stablilizer, the capture card, and into DivX. I also liked the rendition of the colours more, they seemed fresher and less washed out. Obviously we're not talking about a huge difference; some people might not agree, but in my opinion, yes, there was a SMALL improvement. I don't pretend to really understand how a video stabilizer works. If you try to convert old degraded VHS to digital without a stabilizer, you tend to run into big problems. My experience was that problems were magnified significantly when you covert it "raw" like that. Part of the issue apparently is that the capture card or software is confused by degraded analog video, especially if it has tracking problems, and can't render a clean digital copy. Occasionally it might even think it is encountering Macrovision copyright protection, in which case the screen blanks out completely. So while the improvement from the VHS (if any) is slight, the difference between a digital copy made with vs without a stabilizer is HUGE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dave Posted April 16, 2005 Share Posted April 16, 2005 It's hard to quantify really, so much of it is subjective. My own observation with some old tapes where the picture tended to jump and "flutter" a bit, was that the picture looked more stable, more "solid" after running it through the stablilizer, the capture card, and into DivX. I also liked the rendition of the colours more, they seemed fresher and less washed out. Obviously we're not talking about a huge difference; some people might not agree, but in my opinion, yes, there was a SMALL improvement. I don't pretend to really understand how a video stabilizer works. If you try to convert old degraded VHS to digital without a stabilizer, you tend to run into big problems. My experience was that problems were magnified significantly when you covert it "raw" like that. Part of the issue apparently is that the capture card or software is confused by degraded analog video, especially if it has tracking problems, and can't render a clean digital copy. Occasionally it might even think it is encountering Macrovision copyright protection, in which case the screen blanks out completely. So while the improvement from the VHS (if any) is slight, the difference between a digital copy made with vs without a stabilizer is HUGE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Massive Attack Posted April 17, 2005 Author Share Posted April 17, 2005 Dave, would you be able to make the avi (DivX) files and then transfer them to me (say using msn messenger). Would that be too much of a strain on your internet connection? I could then create the torrents to share and no mailing would have to be involved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redhat Posted April 17, 2005 Share Posted April 17, 2005 Hey Cheeta, if you have those '86 tapes could you lend them to me to digitize? Then I can send them out to others. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dave Posted April 17, 2005 Share Posted April 17, 2005 quote:Originally posted by Massive Attack Dave, would you be able to make the avi (DivX) files and then transfer them to me (say using msn messenger). Would that be too much of a strain on your internet connection? I could then create the torrents to share and no mailing would have to be involved. It's not a problem with my connection speed, but an ISP Issue re uploading. Long story. Anyhow, if I can find those old tapes at my mom's house I'll make digital copies using the stabilizer etc, and if you want to make them into torrents then I can mail you a DVD containing the avi files if you like. My mom lives in another city but I'll be there within the next couple of weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Massive Attack Posted April 17, 2005 Author Share Posted April 17, 2005 Dave, mail is fine. I'm more than willing to make the torrents. Good luck on your search! I hope you find some jems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJT Posted April 17, 2005 Share Posted April 17, 2005 While we're at it, I'm going to put another word in for classic Canadian CLUB matches. If anyone finds any of those, please add them to the list of stuff to be digitized and distributed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Massive Attack Posted May 15, 2005 Author Share Posted May 15, 2005 Just to update the torrent status. On Friday I received another pacakage from redhat (thanks man). It included 1. Canada-Mexico from the 2000 Gold Cup 2. Canada-Japan from the 2001 Confederations Cup, 3. 'The State of Canadian Soccer' from the show "To The Point" on The Score 4. The Canada-Libya friendly (but the DVD doesn't work). I'm working on converting the Can-Mex Gold Cup game right now. I will most likely begin hosting it on Friday, so that I can keep uploading it all weekend. The video is only about 1h 20min due to Sportsnet showing a CHL game. I will try to get the Canada-Japan game up for the following weekend, and 'The State of Canadian Soccer' for the weekend following that. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If anyone can suggest some good DVD to avi software, please let me know. My Dr.DivX free trial has run out, and I tried to get an extension, but it doesn't work. Currently I'm using WinAvi and then I'm pasting the files together with VirtualDub. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redhat Posted May 15, 2005 Share Posted May 15, 2005 quote:Originally posted by Massive Attack 4. The Canada-Libya friendly (but the DVD doesn't work). I'll re-record it for the next batch, which will include: Canada-Colombia Gold Cup 2000 Final Canada-Germany 2003 Friendly Canada-Brazil 1994 Friendly (featuring Eddie Berdusco and younger-looking Watson, Yallop, Corrazin, Mitchell, and Forrest)! P.S. Anyone with 1986 games? CSL matches? Let me know![8D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Massive Attack Posted May 16, 2005 Author Share Posted May 16, 2005 Wow, that's some awesome stuff. Can't wait. Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dave Posted May 16, 2005 Share Posted May 16, 2005 quote:Originally posted by Massive Attack If anyone can suggest some good DVD to avi software, please let me know. My Dr.DivX free trial has run out, and I tried to get an extension, but it doesn't work. Currently I'm using WinAvi and then I'm pasting the files together with VirtualDub. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm not sure WinAvi will produce the kind of quality one would want for this sort of thing. Dr. DivX only cost 20 bucks or so... I have the full version and it's worth it IMO. Another alternative would be to just put all the DVD files into a Zip file and make that into a torrent. It would take longer to distribute but at least we wouldn't get the loss of quality one might see with a non-standard DivX conversion. Also, if you use Virtual Dub to paste DivX avis together, you likely will get some audio-video asynchronization, and possibly some loss of audio near the places where the files were merged. (ie you might hear the announcer yelling "gooaaaaallllll" 10 seconds prior to the shot, or not at all. Not good.) I don't mean to be picky or critical... trust me I'm very grateful for everyone going to so much trouble... but if we take the time to do this I think we should make it the best quality we can. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help. I'm certainly no expert, but I've done a fair amount of video conversion in the past couple of months, and learned a bit by trial and error. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Massive Attack Posted May 16, 2005 Author Share Posted May 16, 2005 You wouldn't be willing to send me your prot.dll file from Dr.DivX, would you? (narduch at yahoo dot com) Well, I just checked out the file and the audio/video is out of sink. So I will be making it again. Dave, is there anyway that you can choose how much of the video you want to copy in Dr.DivX? The Can-Mex game ends at about 1:22:00 on the DVD, but the DVD keeps going until about 2:00:00. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PSG Posted May 16, 2005 Share Posted May 16, 2005 If you go to www.davebrett.com you can get a list of all the games Dave has. There are quite a few Canada games. I have ordered a few from him and they're excellent. Great idea to make the library of classic games. I also have the friendly against Scotland in Edinburgh a couple of years ago if that's any help? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Dave Posted May 17, 2005 Share Posted May 17, 2005 quote:Originally posted by Massive Attack You wouldn't be willing to send me your prot.dll file from Dr.DivX, would you? (narduch at yahoo dot com) Dave, is there anyway that you can choose how much of the video you want to copy in Dr.DivX? The Can-Mex game ends at about 1:22:00 on the DVD, but the DVD keeps going until about 2:00:00. Re breaking protection code on my copy of Dr. DivX, I'd really like to help, but IMO that amounts to software piracy, and my conscience just won't allow me to do that. I've got friends in the software development biz. I'm not aware of any way of limiting the file time when Dr. DivX encodes from a video file. If you are encoding with Dr. DivX directly off a PVR card you can do that, but that wouldn't apply here. This "Dave" guy in Texas looks to have some good videos in stock. I may send him an email inquiry. If he can get me some VHS of old games I could encode them direct to DivX. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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